Glorious Glosters beat big dogs and prove there’s life beyond The Hundred
If you looked up “Glorious Glosters” in the sporting dictionary its entire synopsis would be focused around Saturday afternoon.
Because the rank outsider of T20 teams, the forgotten bunch who some said were at Finals Day to make up the numbers, handed cricket a healthy reminder of what is cooking around the counties, no matter how glitzy the game’s bosses try to sell The Hundred as the future.
The final, a Cider Derby between Gloucestershire and Somerset, was a match between two counties without a Hundred team association. And it was a final the underdogs dominated.
Gloucestershire played their quarter-final, against top-ranked Bears, semi-final against Sussex Sharks and final all at Edgbaston in Birmingham.
They conceded scores of just 124, 106 and 124 runs, and took 29 wickets.
On Finals Day they took all 20 wickets on offer and lost just four in their two innings against more fancied sides.
Gloucestershire in the back door
“You need your big players to stand up on nights like this, which is what happened. But all through the campaign our players have delivered performances. I could go through the side. Everyone has contributed,” left-arm Gloucestershire pacer David Payne, who described the win as sneaking through the back door, said after Finals Day.
“This won’t sink in for a while. I’m feeling a lot of emotion and a huge amount of pride for this group right now. The reason you stay at a club like Gloucestershire is for days like this because it means so much more.
“It’s a strange feeling because a lot of the Somerset guys [Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Tom Abell, Roelof van der Merwe, Jake Ball and Benny Green] are my Welsh Fire team-mates in The Hundred.
“They and Surrey have set the bar high in T20 and we take immense pride from beating them.”
The victory is about more than just on-field success. Gloucestershire have had their spell of difficulties off the pitch too, and the often-struggling club can take a lot from beating the big boys – including three T20 wins this season against rivals Somerset.
Overlooked
New coach Mark Alleyne now has success early upon his return to the club, having played in the only previous Cider Derby final, a cup match 25 years ago at Lord’s.
He was overlooked for many county jobs, denied interviews even, but he’s vindicated his return to the West Country.
And looking on at Edgbaston was David ‘Syd’ Lawrence, the Gloucestershire legend who has been diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease.
Images of him with the trophy on his lap will undoubtedly be framed and hung throughout the Seat Unique Stadium in Bristol, home of the new defending T20 champions.
Gloucestershire aren’t a perfect club. They don’t have the coffers to challenge the wage bill of the likes of Surrey and they’re looking for investment – even exploring a new stadium site and potentially selling off their Bristol home.
And with the absence of a Hundred franchise contributing to the balance sheet they’re likely going to need to stick at being the underdogs, despite recent success.
Cricket is shifting, and the priority is no longer clubs like Gloucestershire. So their success against the odds on Saturday is a reminder that English cricket is more than eight franchises being flogged to the highest bidder.